Belmond – Breakfast with Elephants

How about Breakfast with Elephants on your private tent deck at Belmond’s Savute Elephant Lodge? Use binoculars if you need to get even closer – or, on the morning game drive, far from any form of civilisation, stop for Brunch in the Bush. Go rogue and concoct a customised G&T from the selection of aromatics on offer such as rosemary, cinnamon, orange, lemon, mint and berries.

After the late afternoon drive, choose to dine in the outdoor restaurant or opt for a more adventurous private dinner in the lodge’s unique viewing hide, and observe the nocturnal comings and goings of the wildlife of Savute. Dine eye to eye with lions, leopard, elephants, hyenas, antelope and other wildlife gathering at the water hole just a few metres away.

On boma nights, discover African outdoor dining at its best under the umbrella canopy of the Camelthorn Acacia, with a feast of barbequed meats and vegetables. Be immersed in Motswana culture and tradition with tales of handed-down folklore and customs and traditional dances.  Pick up a book on star-gazing and wonder at the starry African night sky overhead.

The lodge offers the ubiquitous morning and evening game drives, made more fascinating by discovering the unique tectonics of the region, and the presence (or not) of the Savute Lake, the Savute Marsh and the Savute Channel. But there is more – the lodge offers guided night walks in camp, where it is possible to see nocturnal animals that are not often ticked-off most safari-goers list, such as genet, honey badgers, spring hares, African wild cats, eagle owls, barn owl, Pels spotted owls, fruit bats and black-backed jackals.

Bliss out further at the Thera Naka Spa, and enjoy the view, with the tented “walls” of the spa opened up – so one can in fact enjoy a massage with the elephants. Thera Naka spa products were chosen because of the super hydrating and nourishing ingredients of the marula and baobab tree oils, trees that are found in the Savute region. The signature Thera Naka Massage incorporates a mesmerising sequence of African circular shapes and vibrations called the ‘’elephant dance’’, and in the background: the peaceful rainstick sounds of falling rain.